Feed roll mounting and drive



Aprii 19, 1966 SKEEN 3,246,822

FEED ROLL MOUNTING AND DRIVE Filed Jan. 29, 3.964

INVENTOR.

GARY R. SKEEN AT TO EY United States Patent 3,246,822 FEED ROLL MOUNTING AND DRIVE Gary R. Sheen, Cranston, 111., assignor to Carl G. Peterson Co., East Providence, R.I., a corporation of Rhode Island Filed Jan. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 341,005 8 Claims. (Cl. 226155) My present invention relates to roll feed mechanisms and more particularly to a novel roll feed mounting and drive construction.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a roll feed mechanism having a novel drive construction which ensures accuracy regardless of the movement of the lifting device.

The present application constitutes an improvement over my Patent No. 3,067,999 entitled Feed Roll Mounting and Lifting Device, dated December 11, 1962.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a drive mechanism for a feed roll mounting which eliminates the disengagement of the gears during the operation of the lifting mechanism.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a roll feed mounting and drive which is simple in construction and easy and economical to manufacture and assemble.

Wit-l1 the above and other objects and advantageous features in view my invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and more particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a roll feed mechanism embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the gear mounting for the drive mechanism.

Conventional roll feed mechanisms comprise a pair of rollers mounted one above the other for feeding sheet stock to a power press or other tool. The lower roller is usually the driven roller and the upper roller is geared to the lower roller. In my patent hereinabove referred to, I have shown a construction in which the device is provided with a novel lifting mechanism in which the upper roller is pivoted in a lever device which is in turn operated by a cam on the power press. It is normally contemplated that the amount of lift is just sufficient to release the pressure on the stock being fed. This amount of lift is usually not enough to disengage the gears on the upper and lower rollers. Consequently the drive of the rollers continued even during the lifting operation. Because of the taper of the teeth of the gears, a slight amount of play exists at the outer ends so that when the lifting mechanism moves the gears apart the drive is sloppy and there is a chance of overdriving or underdriving during the separation and engagement of the gears in the lifting operation. The amount of play in the gears and the consequent error is so small as to be inconsequential in the small feed mechanisms. However, in the larger feeds, with heavier stock, and with larger gears accurate high speed feeding cannot be maintained with such a lifting device.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a gear drive mechanism which permits the lifting of the upper roller without any disengagement whatsoever of the gear teeth. The drive mechanism of the present invention therefore provides for accurate feeding at any size gear and at any speeds. While the present drive mechanism is particularly suitable for the lifting construction illustrated in my patent herein referred to, it is obvious that it may be employed as a drive mechanism for other types of roll feed devices having other types of lifting mechanims.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the roll feed mechanism comprises a rectangular housing having a base 10 spaced vertical end blocks 11, one of which may be provided with a second spaced end block 12. A horizontal top plate 13 connects the tops of the blocks 11 and 12. The sheet stock is fed by a pair of rollers, a lower roller 14 and an upper roller 15 of slightly smaller diameter. The drive and braking mechanisms are normally positioned between the end block 12 and the adjacent end block 11 but are not illustrated herein. FIGS. 1 and 2 show the opposite end of the housing wherein the gears which are used to couple the upper and lower roller shafts are mounted.

The lower roller 14 is mounted on a shaft 16 which is a driven shaft. The upper roller 15 is mounted on a shaft 17. In conventional constructions, the shafts 16 and 17 are provided at their outer ends with meshing gears so that driving the lower shaft results in the opposite rotation of the upper shaft. However in the illustrated form, the upper shaft '17 is mounted in a frame 18 which is pivotally mounted at 19. The press is designed to provide a cam pressure on the rod 20 to pivot the frame 18 and move the shaft 17 and its roller 15 upwardly away from the lower roller and shaft 14 and 16. This is accomplished by mounting the shaft 17 in a large opening in the side of the block 11 so that there is sufficient room for the movement of the shaft. As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the shafts 16 and 17 are provided respectively with gears 21 and 22 in spaced relation to each other. Instead of meshing the gears 21 and 22 I provide a second fixed gear 23 mounted at the outer side of the pivot point 19 for the frame 18 and meshing with the gear 22. The side wall 11 is provided with an elongated slot 24 extending between the gears 21 and 23 as shown in FIG. 2. A fourth gear 25 is mounted on a shaft 26 which can be .adjustably locked in the slot 24 to move the gear 25 in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 2 so that it can be pushed into meshing position with the gears 21 and 23 in assembly.

With the parts assembled as illustrated, it is essential that the gears on the shafts 16 and 17 be of identical size. On the other hand the intermediate gears 23 and 25 should be of the same size but not necessarily the same size as the gears 21 and 22. This ensures the identical surface rotation of the rollers 14 and 15 although in opposite directions as shown by the arrows in FIG. 2. Now when the press cam moves the rod 20 downwardly to lift the roller 15 in accordance with the description in my patent hereinabove referred to, the pivotal movement of the frame 18 will be around the pivot point 19 which is also the center of the gear 23. Thus the gear 22 will move into the solid line positions shown in FIG. 2 and will actually rotate around the perimeter of the gear 23. Thus movement of the gear 22 during the lifting operation will be in an arcuate form around the perimeter of the gear 23 and there will be no disengagement of the gears and no loose operation. As a result no matter how much lifting action is provided all of the gears will be firmly meshed at all times and the feed will operate accurately at all speeds and all sizes.

The above construction thus provides that during the lifting operation of the upper roller from the lower roller there is no disengagement or even partial disengagement of any of the gear teeth and the drive is always positive. I have thus provided a feed mechanism in which the gear drives are at all times completely engaged regardless of the movement of one of the elements. Other advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A roller feed including a pair of spaced vertical rectangular blocks, a shaft mounted in the lower portion of said blocks, an upper shaft extending loosely through openings in the upper portion of said blocks, a roller mounted on each of said shafts, means pivotally mounted in said blocks adjacent said upper shaft for pivotally holding said upper shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said lower shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said upper shaft, a third gear mounted at the pivot point of said means and meshing with said upper shaft gear, and a fourth gear mounted on one of said blocks and meshing with said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said fourth gear being adjustably mounted on said block.

2. A roller feed including a pair of spaced vertical rectangular blocks, a shaft mounted in the lower portion of said blocks, an upper shaft extending loosely through openings in the upper portion of said blocks, a roller mounted on each of said shafts, means pivotally mounted in said blocks adjacent said upper shaft for pivotally holding said upper shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said lower shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said upper shaft, a third gear mounted at the pivot point of said means and meshing with said upper shaft gear, and a fourth gear mounted on one of said blocks and meshing with said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said block having a slot between said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said fourth gear being adjustably mounted in said slot.

3. A roller feed including a pair of spaced vertical rectangular blocks, a shaft mounted in the lower portion of said blocks, an upper shaft extending loosely through openings in the upper portion of said blocks, a roller mounted on each of said shafts, means pivotally mounted in said blocks adjacent said upper shaft for pivotally holding said upper shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said lower shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said upper shaft, a third gear mounted at the pivot point of said means and meshing with said upper shaft gear, and a fourth gear mounted on one of said blocks and meshing with said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said upper and lower shaft gears having the same diameter, said fourth gear being adjustably mounted on said block.

4. A roller feed including a pair of spaced vertical rectangular blocks, a shaft mounted in the lower portion of said blocks, an upper shaft extending loosely through openings in the upper portion of said blocks, a roller mounted on each of said shafts, means pivotally mounted in said blocks adjacent said upper shaft for pivotally holding said upper shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said lower shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said upper shaft, a third gear mounted at the pivot point of said means and meshing with said upper shaft gear, and a fourth gear mounted on one of said blocks and meshing with said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said upper and lower shaft gears having the same diameter, said block having a slot between said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said fourth gear being adjustably mounted in said slot.

5. A roller feed including a pair of spaced vertical rectangular blocks, a shaft mounted in the lower portion of said blocks, an upper shaft extending loosely through openings in the upper portion of said blocks, a roller mounted on each of said shafts, means pivotally mounted in said blocks adjacent said upper shaft for pivotally holding said upper shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said lower shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said upper shaft, a third gear mounted at the pivot point of said means and meshing with said upper shaft gear, and a fourth gear mounted on one of said blocks and meshing with said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said third and fourth gears having the same diameter, said fourth gear being adjustably mounted on said block.

6. A roller feed including a pair of spaced vertical rectangular blocks, a shaft mounted in the lower portion of said blocks, an upper shaft extending loosely through openings in the upper portion of said blocks, a roller mounted on each of said shafts, means pivotally mounted in said blocks adjacent said upper shaft for pivotally holding said upper shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said lower shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said upper shaft, a third gear mounted at the pivot point of said means and meshing with said upper shaft gear, and a fourth gear mounted on one of said blocks and meshing with said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said third and fourth gears having the same diameter, said block having a slot between said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said fourth gear being adjustably mounted in said slot.

'7. A roller feed including a pair of spaced vertical rectangular blocks, a shaft mounted in the lower portion of said blocks, an upper shaft extending loosely through openings in the upper portion of said blocks, a roller mounted on each of said shafts, means pivotally mounted in said blocks adjacent said upper shaft for pivotally holding said upper shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said lower shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said upper shaft, a third gear mounted at the pivot point of said means and meshing with said upper shaft gear, and a fourth gear mounted on one of said blocks and meshing with said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said upper and lower shaft gears having the same diameter, said third and fourth gears having the same diameter, said fourth gear being adjustably mounted on said block.

8. A roller feed including a pair of spaced vertical rectangular blocks, a shaft mounted in the lower portion of said blocks, an upper shaft extending loosely through openings in the upper portion of said blocks, a roller mounted on each of said shafts, means pivotally mounted in said blocks adjacent said upper shaft for pivotally holding said upper shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said lower shaft, a gear mounted at one outer end of said upper shaft, a third gear mounted at the pivot point of said means and meshing with said upper shaft gear, and a fourth gear mounted on one of said blocks and meshing with said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said upper and lower shaft gears having the same diameter, said third and fourth gears having the same diameter, said block having a slot between said third gear and said lower shaft gear, said fourth gear being adjustably mounted in said slot.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 703,658 7/1902 Johansen -168 1,481,886 1/1924 Berg 226- 1,946,170 2/1934 Mikaelson 226176 2,863,660 12/1958 Delafontaine 226 176 FOREIGN PATENTS 623,738 1/ 1936 Germany.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner.

M. HENSON WOOD, .TR., Examiner.

A. N. KNOWLES, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A ROLLER FEED INCLUDING A PAIR OF SPACED VERTICAL RECTANGULAR BLOCKS, A SHAFT MOUNTED IN THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID BLOCKS, AN UPPER SHAFT EXTENDING LOOSELY THROUGH OPENINGS IN THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID BLOCKS, A ROLLER MOUNTED ON EACH OF SAID SHAFTS, MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED IN SAID BLOCKS ADJACENT SAID UPPER SHAFT FOR PIVOTALLY HOLDING SAID UPPER SHAFT, A GEAR MOUNTED AT ONE OUTER END OF SAID LOWER SHAFT, A GEAR MOUNTED AT ONE OUTER END OF SAID UPPER SHAFT, A THIRD GEAR MOUNTED AT THE PIVOT POINT OF SAID MEANS AND MESHING WITH SAID UPPER SHAFT GEAR, AND A FOURTH GEAR MOUNTED ON ONE OF SAID BLOCKS AND MESHING WITH SAID THIRD GEAR AND SAID LOWER SHAFT GEAR, SAID FOURTH GEAR BEING ADJUSTABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BLOCK. 